Japan Day 7: Tokyo - Last Day!

I spent most of the day actually in the hotel. With Rick's executive level hotel room/service (thank you, Rick's travel points!), we got to use the spa; so great for our aching feet! The spa was Japanese style, so they had separate ones for men and women because swimsuits were not allowed. The great thing was that I had the spa all to myself.

After the spa, I walked around the Shinjuku area one last time, and grabbed some snacks for my shuttle ride over to the airport.


Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower


Even though my flight was at 6pm, the Narita International Airport is about an hour and a half away from Tokyo, so my last day was not very long. There is an express train to the airport, but it costs twice as much as a shuttle (also called airport limo). Having spent enough money in Japan, I opted for the limo, and it got me there in time and just fine. (Good thing I saved money from the ride over, because I spent the last of my yen on a small box of Tokyo Banana and Sakura Matcha Kit Kat at the airport!)




Overall, it was a great trip, and I would love to come back and see other parts of Japan and visit new friends too! Thank you, Japan!

Japan Day 6: Tokyo - The Pokemon Center, Asakusa, Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku

It was my last full day in Tokyo. I felt like I had done a lot already and didn't need to exhaust myself today, but thanks to my new, dear friend Seiko, she proved me wrong! There was still lots to see. I had only been introduced to Seiko through a friend via facebook a week before I left for Japan, but she turned out to be a super sweet lady, and great hostess.



Rick and I met Seiko at the Shinjuku train station. I specified where, but since Shinjuku is one of the busiest transit stations in the world, I didn't account that despite being specific, there is still chance of misunderstanding! And without a cellphone, all Rick and I could do was wait for Seiko to show up. Fortunately, Seiko found me and Rick within half an hour of our meet time.

I asked Seiko if we could stop by The Pokemon Center. Having been a former employee for the brand, I thought it'd be fun to check out. When we arrived upstairs, outside of the store, rows of people were lined up on the sides, playing the new Black & White game on their DS. Inside the store was not any less hectic. It was cool to see the new characters (didn't know the names though, since they were in Japanese), and there was a neat cross-breed stuffed animal of Pikachu + Ditto. I didn't buy anything though; I have too much Pokemon stuff from the old job!





Next, we headed over to Asakusa, a more traditional part of Tokyo. It was a nice contrast to the hustle and bustle of the more metropolitan areas. We walked over to the Senso-ji Complex area, which was beautifully lit up. The temple itself was closed, but there were plenty of people walking around the grounds. On the way to the temple, there was a market selling snacks, souvenirs, and other miscellaneous things. We stopped by this one vendor that was making fresh rice crackers. Never had it fresh before; it was really yummy! I had a wasabi one, wrapped in dried seaweed. I carelessly dropped a chunk on the floor though...doh!







Outside of the Senso-ji, there was an interesting music performance going on. Even a Harajuku girl was taking photos of it:




After Asakusa, we stopped by Shibuya to take a few more photos of the famous, busiest intersection. The ones I took from the previous night did not really capture the amount of people there; I don't think my second set turned out any better. Oh well. Here's a video instead:



We had already missed the costume portion of Harajuku, which occurs on Sunday mornings. We were about 9 hours too late :P (At least we saw one Harajuku girl in Asakusa.) We walked around the area instead, which was full of retail shops, from Forever 21 to a 3M store; Seiko said it's one of the best areas to shop in Tokyo. However, instead of shopping we spent most of our time finding the Citi Bank, so I could get some cash out. (ATMs in Tokyo are not as accessible, since most Japanese banks did not accept my US ATM card for withdrawal. Make sure you take enough out if you go!) Oh wait, I did buy something...I had a great strawberry and chocolate ice cream crepe :)




Rick, Seiko, and I were pretty much spent after a full day of walking. We ended up calling it an early night so we could just relax before leaving Japan the next day.

Japan Day 5: Tokyo - Part 3 - Nightlife in Shibuya

It was Wendy's last night in Tokyo, so she needed a good girls' night, Tokyo-style. The Tokyo metro stops running at 1am, but clubs are open until 5am (the metro reopens again at 6am). Since our "catch-the-last-train/pay-too-much-for-taxi" incident in Osaka, the plan was to just head out late and stay up til the metro opens.

A friend recommended Club Ageha, but it required a shuttle ride from Roppongi. Rather than risk being stuck out in the boonies for the entire night, we aimed to go to WOMB and HARD @ Soft.

We started off at an izakaya, but with no English/pictures on the menu and the inability to verbally communicate with the staff, we only stayed for one dish each. I accidentally ordered skewered chicken liver, although Wendy saved it with her grilled mackerel dish (sake was honorable mention).

But off we went, in search of Soft. Figuring that the party at Soft would be more underground (read: small), we headed there first. (We wanted to save the WOMB party for the later hours, because that place looked crazy.) It took us a while to find Soft, but after several stops in convenience stores for directions, we go there. We stopped by the Am/Pm next door to grab a beverage because you can drink in public. Plus, drinking at a bar/club in Tokyo can get pretty pricey. The cheapest drink we found for the night was ¥500 (about USD $6). Kind of like NYC prices I guess. I got a nice peach fizzy drink and Wendy got a small bottle of whiskey and and a bottle of coke. Classy!



But thank god for this website, because HARD was such a great dance party! Really happy that I found this listed. The basement was small; it had a bar, a dance floor, mini stage, and a bathroom (tucked away in a corner. The entrance was pretty mysterious too). The DJs were playing excellent music (electro/dance/etc...the 3 DJs we saw were all sic), the energy level was high and positive, and the people were into the music and dancing. It didn't feel pretentious at all, considering how hip the place felt. If I lived in Tokyo, I would definitely hit this party up all the time. (Plus, it didn't hurt that there was a little eye-candy at the bar.)




At about 2ish, we decided to check out WOMB, in another part of Shibuya. I got directions from their website, but we just couldn't seem to find it. We stopped into more convenience stores (story of our night), but it just didn't happen. We did find the right area, and asked around about WOMB, but it sounded like it was wrapping up anyways (it was 3:30am at this point). We checked in with Club Asia, a hip hop club, but the cover was still ¥3500 (USD $42!! Apparently the average for the bigger, multi-story clubs.) We passed on that, and then came across Atom, which they were charging ¥3000. Since it was Wendy's last night (and probably the only time I would be out in Japan for the rest of the trip), we went in.

But the bouncer that greeted us asked Wendy where she was from, and ended up giving us a discount; it turned out to be ¥1000 each, including a drink ticket. Score! And let me say, Atom was CRAZY. It was only 2 floors (we had to take an elevator to get there), but it was packed, especially on the main room. I have never seen such an enthusiastic crowd at a club. We could have been at a concert and these people were the band's number one fans. Everyone was singing at the top of their lungs and dancing so hard to US and Japanese hits. It was intense! The other floor had good electro music, but there wasn't as much people and there seemed to be a group of white males on the prowl for Japanese girls. A bit creepy. We just danced on the other floor.


No pictures allowed. Oops.

Even though Atom had great energy, the vibe was way different from Soft. It was more meat-market; kinda gross. At the end, we closed the place down at 5am, and they kicked us out onto the elevators. (Can we say "fire hazard"?) There must have been at least 250 people waiting to take just the 2 elevators, no optional staircase.

When we stepped outside, it was daylight, and crowds of people were making their way back to the Shibuya station. It wasn't open yet, so we killed some time at a rice bowl place. It was the perfect post-clubbing meal.



I have to say, Tokyo is pretty safe (other than the elevator-fire hazard). When we were walking towards the station at 5:30am, there were a few guys, who you can tell had a late night drinking/clubbing, just passed on the sidewalk or at a storefront. They didn't look homeless at all, they just needed a place to rest. This was just amazing to me; it's THAT safe.

And that was our night-to-day out....thank you, Shibuya!

Japan Day 5: Tokyo - Part 2 - Akihabara and Shiodome

My guide book described the Akihabara neighborhood as "techno-geek heaven", and they were totally right. Wendy and I arrived there before even the shops opened, and we saw guys (from teenagers to fully-grown men) lined up outside of stores for deals on computer-ware, games, and anime figures. I don't even do that on Black Friday in the States for anything. But it was definitely an interesting neighborhood. There were tons of teenage boys walking (with shopping bags full of stuff) among 5-story shops with everything electronic, game arcades, manga and toy stores; I felt like I was geeking out too.




The weirdest experience there was going to a maid cafe, called @home cafe. It was totally kitschy and disturbing at the same time. The "maids" were teenage girls dressed in maid costumes, who addressed you as master/mistress of the "house". (We weren't allowed to take photos, only if we paid for a photo with our "maid", which you see below.) Wendy, I, and maybe two other women were the only females, out of 25 or so customers. The rest were teenage boys to men in their 40s.

You can order a meal, drink, and/or dessert individually or as a package deal. The packages included a game you'd play with a maid, a picture with a maid (from which you can choose which maid you wanted to take a picture with), and a take home souvenir. I opted for a dessert (a cute little rare-cream cheese cake shaped as a bunny) and a photo with our maid.

It really was bizarre to see these girls play their role. They were very cutesy and flirty with the guys. Some guys just looked down-right creepy, but the girls maintained their role without missing a beat. Either Wendy or Dan compared the maid cafe to Hooters in the US. I'd have to agree, only the maid cafe seemed even more f'd up because this crossed the line of fetish.

In the end, I had fun though. Our maid was super cute and sweet, and I got a "Master Card", Lv.1 (Haha. If I had't worked for a game company, I would have no idea WTF "Lv.1" meant.)



After Akihabara, I hopped on the metro back to Tsukiji/Shiodome area to see the Advertising Museum. I'm usually good with directions/orientation, but the maps in my guidebook were not very detailed, so I probably spent almost 45min walking around, trying to find this museum. It turned out to be in this giant mall/building, with a small sign on the front, and a directory on the side. It was worth it, I suppose. Not so much for the featured exhibit (on the boom of American Advertising, inspired by Mad Men), but for the Japanese collection it housed and for the design of the exhibits. (Being in Asia and seeing visuals in Japan and Hong Kong have made it even more clear for me that design is so much more elegant when simple and clean.)



I went through the exhibit within and hour and then headed back to the Ginza metro station. They had opened the main avenue there for pedestrians, so it was nice to stroll around and take in the environment around me. I needed to ease my pace and rest up, because Wendy and I planned to be up all night partying in Shibuya.

Japan Day 5: Tokyo - Part 1 - Tsukiji Market

This was the longest day on my trip so far. We got up at 5:30am to go see the Tsukiji fish market. This wasn't just any fish market; this was where sellers auction fresh fish to buyers, as early as 3:30am. We were not crazy enough to get up that early for the auction, but we did want to see the wholesale market and to eat some fresh fish for breakfast.

Yoshi and Yuko (Wendy's friends from the previous chicken-sashimi night) met up with us at the market bright and early. I'm so glad they came, because they knew just where to take us throughout the market and helped us find this awesome tiny restaurant that served the freshest chirashi bowl I have ever had. It was so worth getting up early for! (At least once).


I didn't like salmon roe until this bowl.

After breakfast, we walked around the Tsukiji backstreets, where vendors sold fruits, veggies, assorted fishcakes, tea, and many other things. I couldn't eat anymore after the chirashi bowl, but Rick bought several types of fishcakes that I sampled. The best was this fried fishcake with chopped onions, wrapped in bacon. So tasty!



"fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads/
fish heads, fish heads, eat them up. YUM!"

Yoshi and Yuko also brought us to the wholesale fish market in this giant wherehouse, where restaurant cooks and locals would buy their fresh fish. It was so hectic just trying to get around. The workers zipped around in these little individual standing carts (kind of reminded me of the Jetsons); there was even a traffic director at one intersection controlling the chaos. People had their jobs to do, and we were just tourists in their pathways. There were several times when Yuko had to pull me back from the street to avoid getting runover. It was fun to experience.

Japan Day 4: Part 2 - Tokyo

Going from Kyoto to Tokyo is like day to night. Kyoto was much more relaxed and easy to get around, while upon entering Tokyo Station, I could feel this was going to be such a different place. Looking at the metro map at the station was already confusing, since it was not really on a grid system, there were multiple rails we could take to get to one place, and the English equivalents were not as apparent as Kyoto, Osaka, or Hong Kong. Not to mention we had to go to Shinjuku station, which is one of the world's busiest stations.

Rick and I had to get to the Westin to drop off my stuff and meet Wendy for dinner with her friends at 7:30pm that day. We got into Rick's hotel around 5:00pm and figured we had enough time to take a short nap, and leave at 6pm to go to Wendy's. We didn't leave time for getting lost though! We scrambled to find the right direction towards the hotel, and when we finally did get there around 7:15pm, Wendy opens the door and says our reservation is at 8:30pm. Doh!

We all showed up in the Ginza neighborhood to meet Wendy's friends, Yoshi and Yuko. Once again, VERY glad we had a host in this city, because they knew where to take us for chicken sashimi. It was basically what you think it would taste like -- raw fish. Only it was chicken. We tried breast, thigh, and stomach (?). In that order, it went from least chewy to chewy. We had several other appetizers, like (cooked) chicken wings, tempura mushrooms (none of that button-mushroom stuff), a type of potato with fish cake, skewered chicken, and a plate of greens. To top it off, we had a hot pot/shabu shabu dish. It was probably the healthiest meal I had since arriving in Asia.



Chicken skewers, chicken sashimi,chicken wings...oh yeah, I'm year of the rooster!

Afterwards, Wendy and I were going to meet up with some Couchsurfers I talked to online at a club in Roppongi, but dinner ran a bit late, so we missed them. Plus, it was about USD $30 to get into the club, and with only an hour til the metro stopped running, we decided to pass. We walked around the area anyways to check it out. Roppongi was filled with foreigners and expats. It was so international, it could have been a night out in NYC. As neat as it was for the diversity, I didn't really want to go out to the bars/clubs there, because it didn't feel like Tokyo.
We ended up going home before the trains stopped running, because the next day, we had to get up super early (5:30am) for the Tsukiji fish market.